What do you think?
Rate this book
Shadows of the Heart
Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 10, 2016
ISBN: 0-7927-1237-4 (pb)
0-7927-1238-2 (hc)
©1980
11 chapters 279 pages
Book Summary—Trish Bellingham travels to Costa Rica to attend her half-sister’s, Edith Hepler, wedding. The thing is, she doesn’t know her half-sister at all, though they share the same mother, Carol Ann. But, from the very night of her arrival, Trish’s life seems to be in jeopardy—and she has no idea. But Edith and her fiancé, Armando Albéniz, think the likely suspect is Marcantonio de la Barca whose family has owned the cafetal (the coffee plantation) for generations, but it was divided in a family feud and Edith’s father, Robert, bought up half of it—much to Marantonio’s annoyance. He is now determined to get Robert’s cafetal back before Edith marries Armando and the cafetal has the man in Armando who has the ability and youth to run it, plus can get the heirs necessary to pass it on and keep it forever out of de la Barca hands. What Trish doesn’t understand is why Marcantonio would try to kill HER when she has no say over the cafetal, no claim to it. But could it be the attempts to kill Trish WEREN’T meant for Trish but for Edith? And, if so, Trish has to come to terms with the idea that the man she’s fallen in love with is out to kill her half-sister and anyone else who gets in his way, including Trish!
My Review (spoiler alert!)—Ah. This is Lorena McCourtney before she became a Christian or before she was writing AS a Christian, I think, because there’s swearing and “sensuality.” Neither bothers me, but, if one is looking for Christian authors/authoresses and finds Lorena McCourtney’s name come up and then tries this book, one might be taken aback. Frankly, I can read either, though I do tend to weary of characters/situations in non-Christian books.
Anyhow, my “ah” wasn’t because of the above but because it was okay. I figured out the mystery the early on because it follows the same sort of template all these kind of books follow: young girl meets bad boy-playboy who plays loose with her heart (and body), getting her to “fall” while girl’s torn between her head which tells her he’s dangerous and is using her and her heart which tells her “who cares? he’s hot, a great lover, and you love him.” All the while, her life’s in danger and, of course, bad boy-playboy is the likely suspect. So she distrusts him, but the danger’s closer to home and bad boy-playboy comes to save the day and the damsel’s life and turns out to be in love with her, too.
Still, the mystery was okay. Once I figure out How and Who, for me, I read the rest of the story simply to find out how the heroine learns what’s so obvious to me. I’ll admit that there was a twist in this I didn’t foresee, which makes the motive so much more solid, though I sort of guessed Trish had to’ve been a recipient of the property for some reason—otherwise, why try to kill her? Still, I didn’t foresee that she’d turn out not to be half-sisters with Edith but full.
Grade: B+
0-7927-1238-2 (hc)
©1980
11 chapters 279 pages
Book Summary—Trish Bellingham travels to Costa Rica to attend her half-sister’s, Edith Hepler, wedding. The thing is, she doesn’t know her half-sister at all, though they share the same mother, Carol Ann. But, from the very night of her arrival, Trish’s life seems to be in jeopardy—and she has no idea. But Edith and her fiancé, Armando Albéniz, think the likely suspect is Marcantonio de la Barca whose family has owned the cafetal (the coffee plantation) for generations, but it was divided in a family feud and Edith’s father, Robert, bought up half of it—much to Marantonio’s annoyance. He is now determined to get Robert’s cafetal back before Edith marries Armando and the cafetal has the man in Armando who has the ability and youth to run it, plus can get the heirs necessary to pass it on and keep it forever out of de la Barca hands. What Trish doesn’t understand is why Marcantonio would try to kill HER when she has no say over the cafetal, no claim to it. But could it be the attempts to kill Trish WEREN’T meant for Trish but for Edith? And, if so, Trish has to come to terms with the idea that the man she’s fallen in love with is out to kill her half-sister and anyone else who gets in his way, including Trish!
My Review (spoiler alert!)—Ah. This is Lorena McCourtney before she became a Christian or before she was writing AS a Christian, I think, because there’s swearing and “sensuality.” Neither bothers me, but, if one is looking for Christian authors/authoresses and finds Lorena McCourtney’s name come up and then tries this book, one might be taken aback. Frankly, I can read either, though I do tend to weary of characters/situations in non-Christian books.
Anyhow, my “ah” wasn’t because of the above but because it was okay. I figured out the mystery the early on because it follows the same sort of template all these kind of books follow: young girl meets bad boy-playboy who plays loose with her heart (and body), getting her to “fall” while girl’s torn between her head which tells her he’s dangerous and is using her and her heart which tells her “who cares? he’s hot, a great lover, and you love him.” All the while, her life’s in danger and, of course, bad boy-playboy is the likely suspect. So she distrusts him, but the danger’s closer to home and bad boy-playboy comes to save the day and the damsel’s life and turns out to be in love with her, too.
Still, the mystery was okay. Once I figure out How and Who, for me, I read the rest of the story simply to find out how the heroine learns what’s so obvious to me. I’ll admit that there was a twist in this I didn’t foresee, which makes the motive so much more solid, though I sort of guessed Trish had to’ve been a recipient of the property for some reason—otherwise, why try to kill her? Still, I didn’t foresee that she’d turn out not to be half-sisters with Edith but full.
Grade: B+
Displaying 1 of 1 review